Bad Bant Lifegain

Commander / EDH GWU (Bant) Lifegain

Lowrholler

Land (36)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Brokers Hideout
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 5x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 5x Island
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 5x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Seachrome Coast
• 1x Seraph Sanctuary
• 1x Spara's Headquarters
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Treva's Ruins
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Removal (9)

• 1x Ajani, Strength of the Pride
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Haywire Mite
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Resculpt
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Ramp (16)

• 1x Accomplished Alchemist
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Decanter of Endless Water
• 1x Druid Class
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Heartbeat of Spring
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation

Life Gain Synergy (12)

• 1x Angel of Vitality
• 1x Cleric Class
• 1x Crested Sunmare
• 1x Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles
• 1x Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn
• 1x Light of Promise
• 1x Resplendent Angel
• 1x Righteous Valkyrie
• 1x Storm Herd
• 1x Trelasarra, Moon Dancer
• 1x Voice of the Blessed
• 1x Will, Scion of Peace

Misc (4)

• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping

Commander (1)

Life Gain (13)

• 1x Ajani's Mantra
• 1x Armadillo Cloak
• 1x Fountain of Renewal
• 1x Ivory Tower
• 1x Martyr of Sands
• 1x Metropolis Reformer
• 1x Nyx-Fleece Ram
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Venser's Journal
• 1x Wall of Reverence
• 1x Words of Worship

Counterspell (5)

• 1x Absorb
• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Render Silent

Recursion (4)

• 1x Abiding Grace
• 1x Celestine, the Living Saint
• 1x Cosmic Rebirth
• 1x Danitha, New Benalia's Light

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Maybeboard

Other (15)

• 1x Ancient Cornucopia
• 1x Archmage Ascension
• 1x Blossoming Bogbeast
• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Emeria Shepherd
• 1x Final Showdown
• 1x Genju of the Fields
• 1x Griffin Aerie
• 1x Phyrexian Vindicator
• 1x Primeval Titan
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Robe of Stars
• 1x Spirit Link
• 1x Spirit Mantle
• 1x Sword of Wealth and Power

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Now I hear what you're saying, why would you, Lowrholler, the incedibly handsome, intelligent, and all around superior Magic the Gathering player responsible for such marvelous piles of cardboard as Merieke Ri Loaded and... etc... ever try making a Lifegain deck in Bant? "Orzhov or even Esper is strictly better for Lifegain, Lifegain is borderline unusable when a player at the table has a Voltron or Combo Deck, and Shanna isn't even the best choice for this very niche archetype!" I hear you, dear viewer, I hear you and I am taking notes from this conversation. Well, dearest viewer, allow me to let you in on a little secret..

Are you ready?..

I am bad at Magic The Gathering.

"Well at the very least run some reliable win cons like Felidar Sovereign, Angel of Destiny, Heliod, Sun-Crowned / Walking Ballista combo, Approach of the Second Sun, or one of a dozen other instant win conditions that are very much in line with this silly Lifegain archetype!" Listen, viewer, I promise I hear your complaints and they are being filed away by my very best unpaid intern. Your thoughts are precious to me; and I can very much respect your desire to see me not make an ass of myself by playing this strictly bad deck...

But you see, I absolutely needed to make room in the 99 for a Nyx-Fleece Ram. As a matter of fact all of the seemingly random "Gain 1 life at upkeep" cards are critically important to my plans, you simply wouldn't understand... Oh you think you will? Are you sure? Are you prepared to hear the harsh truth that has spurred me to make this objectively bad deck? Do you promise you can handle it?..

Okay..

Here goes.

Cards that instantly win the game are fucking cringe

Now does this deck immediately fall apart when put up against a dedicated Voltron? Yes. Absolutely. But just because Commander Damage is a horribly outdated and unhealthy game mechanic (don't hate me you know I'm right) doesn't mean we shouldn't still try. Where this deck truly suffers is from early game aggression, but if you can build some semblance of a board state you should be getting enough life every turn from the small contributions provided by Soul's Attendant, Fountain of Renewal, or Nyx-Fleece Ram that you can reliably get off your End Step triggers with Angelic Accord, The Book of Exalted Deeds, or Crested Sunmare.

Assuming you can maintain a decent board state for 2-3 turns and your opponent doesn't choose to Cyclonic Rift you into next fucking week, you should have a decent collection of pumped up angels ready to flying superiority your opponent, that's the bread and butter win condition we got here. Backup win conditions include Trelasarra, Moon Dancer and Voice of the Blessed, which will be saucing uncontrollably 2-3 turns after we get them out thanks to the multiptude of "gain 1 life" effects I'm running. Each counting as a distinct source and, subsequently, a distinct +1/+1 counter.

"But Lowrhollerrrrrrr!!11!1!" I hear you crying from your side of this cursed hellscape we call the internet. "You don't have any way to get card advantage bedsides your commander and even then only with the help from some rampy jank in your 99?! What do you do about targeted removal?". Well see here now, I am a blue player. And if you take a look at my list of instants you will notice 5 reasons why you must always ask the blue player permission before casting removal.

Notes:

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 week
Exclude colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.55
Tokens	Ajani's Pridemate, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Bird 3/3 W w/ Grants Flying, Elemental 4/4 UR, Elephant 3/3 G, Horse 5/5 W, Pegasus 1/1 W, Treasure
Folders	In Testing, Tried and True Classics